The Guitar Refinishing and Restoration ForumThis discussion forum is hosted by The Guitar ReRanch and was created to serve those interested in the arcane art/science of guitar refinishing and restoration. Those with all levels of experience are welcomed to participate.

So, a few months ago, my Peavey Stereo Chorus 400's distorted channel was squealing, feeding back and sounded static, even with the both gains and master volume all the way down. Didn't even need to have an instrument plugged in.

Today I took it to a local music store to have them send it to whomever they use as a repair shop. They said they use a shop in Cleveland, and I'd rather drop it off with them than drive an hour and a half each way to get it serviced.

When I told the shop owner (?) what it was doing, he decided to plug it in so he could tell the repair guys what exactly was going on.

He plugged it in without the footswitch, so both channels were working together. Dead quiet. I told him he had to plug in the footswitch (DIN type), which he did. Switched to the dirty channel. Dead quiet.

Decided he wanted to plug a guitar in, grabbed a G&L S type (don't know what they're called- its one of Leo's Stratocasters in my book), and tried the high gain input. Turned all the knobs, and other than some cracking from the pots not being turned (oddly enough, this was only on the EQ, presence and reverb level- not on the gains or volume knob- he even maxed out the pre and again, dead quiet).

Tried the low gain input (never used it that I can recall), fiddled all the knobs again. Reverb on, reverb off. Again, dead quiet.

I said "Well it fixed itself." He said "No. Its an intermittent problem and will likely show up again and get worse over time, probably becoming permanent. I can send it away for service, but they'll charge you an hour ($80) on the bench to tell you what I've told you. Right now its OK."

Said it might be the foot switch, but since it wasn't acting up (and he didn't have another for that amp) he couldn't test his hypothesis.

So, I thought I was going to have to lay out a hundred bucks or so. Turns out there's not a problem right now. Got a buddy who said he'd buy it for $300, and should probably take him up on that so I can get a used Classic 30 tweed.

I also checked out the used gear loft. Saw a Fender Performer 1000, silver grille cloth (fraying in a corner), two melted spots (looked like feet from a device that overheated) that someone had filled in with black marker, and numerous cigarette burns all over the top. Said "vacuum tube overdrive", so I assumed it had a single tube with solid state power section.

Asked the owner, and he came up and looked. Back of the amp section was metal, had a warning about heat, moisture, and the elements. No stand by switch. He went online and found it had a single 12AX7 on 1 of 3 channels.

Asked him about watts, assumed it was 100.

Was correct on both, asked him how much. Said "$195, I'll make you a good deal on your Peavey." Again, no thanks.